Monday, July 13, 2009

Stan Musial - the most under-rated baseball Hall of Famer

Tomorrow night's All-Star Game will be played in St. Louis...long before Albert Pujols owned the Gateway City, another player was the heart and soul of St. Louis - Stan Musial...Musial may be the most overlooked and underappreciated Hall of Famer of all-time...Major League Baseball should honor Musial on Tuesday just as they did Willie Mays when the game was played in San Francisco and Ted Williams when the game was at Fenway...

Williams is considered by most baseball experts to be the greatest hitter of all-time...but many forget the numbers that Musial put up during his 22 seasons as a Cardinal from 1941-63...his numbers are very comparable to Teddy Ballgame...

First off, I understand that Williams missed 3 seasons because he was in the military and only played in 43 games, combined, in 1952-53...but when comparing raw number, Musial is right there...here are some quick numbers:

Williams finished with 2,654 hits and never led the league in hits...Musial finished with 3,630 hits and led the N.L. six times in hits...

Williams finished with a .344 batting average and won six batting titles including the last person to hit over .400...Musial finished with a .331 batting average and won seven batting titles and including a high of .376 in 1948...

Williams had 521 homers to Musial's 475...

Williams was a two-time MVP and finished second four other times...Musial was a three-time MVP and finished second four other times...

Williams was a 17-time All-Star...Musial was a 20-time All-Star...

Williams appeared in only one World Series in which the Red Sox lost to Musial's Cardinals in 1946...Williams had a miserable Series in which he batted .200 with no homers and one RBI...Musial did not do much better in the Series as he batted .222...however, Musial played in four World Series with his Cardinals winning three times...

By no means am I trying to diminish the legacy of Ted Williams...however, Major League Baseball should do a better job in promoting the legacy of another great player - Stan "the Man" Musial...